Raymond franz8/4/2023 However, the comments of Fred Franz at the assembly in Baltimore the same year that the book was published taught me that we could not know if anything would happen in 1975. The focus on the year 1975 in the book Life Everlasting in the Freedom of the Sons of God impressed me. I show that there is strong astronomical and historical evidence in favor of 607 as the year when Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. In time, they discarded one calculation after the other, and only the time period of 2,520 years leading to 1914 remained standing.įranz argues that JW have no evidence that the 2,520 years, for the appointed times of the nations, began in 607 BCE. However, because their Bible study was in its infancy, they had to use the calculations of the time periods made by others. The Bible students realized from their study of the Bible that God’s servants were meant to understand the time periods mentioned in the Bible. But he does not discuss the situation in a sound historical setting. And it is likely that he got some of his new ideas from these commentaries.įranz criticizes the Bible Students’ understanding of the time periods in the Bible. But he showed that he was partial to the views of commentaries on the Scriptures written by theologians. We do not know how or why the new religious ideas grew in the mind of Franz. Thus he denied that the law of abstaining from blood in Acts 15:29 is valid for Christians. Not only did he give a new interpretation to the Scriptures, but he also denied that parts of the Christian Greek Scriptures included laws for Christians. The basic reason for the turnaround of Franz was that he developed a new religion that was very different from the religion of JW, and he read and understood the Scriptures in the light of this new religion. It is obvious that these requirements can only be fulfilled by a team of Bible students who work together. A good knowledge of who the people of God are and their history. A good knowledge of the contents of each book of the Bible. A good understanding of linguistics and semantics. A good understanding of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Akkadian. To understand the basic doctrines of the Bible, the following requirements must be fulfilled: It is, for example, impossible to read through the Bible and then understand what happens at death and all the different sides of the resurrection. Moreover, the expression itself is naïve, because it is impossible to understand the Bible without the help of others. One reason he himself gives is that his change of mind was caused by “letting the Scriptures speak for themselves.” But I show that he himself does not follow this principle. The first chapter discusses this issue, but a clear answer cannot be given. What was the reason for the turnaround of Franz? This study is based on what Franz has written in his two books Crisis of Conscience and In Search for Christian Freedom. God does not have an organized people on the earth, but every Christian lives a life independent of other Christians, and each one’s life is based on his or her relationship with God and not on written laws. His basic views are that there are not two different hopes for salvation, one heavenly and one earthly hope, but all God’s true servants will live in heaven. The beliefs of Franz gradually changed, and the two books he wrote show that he had developed a new religion. During most of this time, he was a full-time servant, and he was a member of the Governing Body for nine years. Raymond Franz was a Witness for Jehovah for 42 years, from 1938 to 1980.
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